How breathless is normal for the third trimester?

[Justjoinedforthis]

After any help as I'm a bit worried.
I'm 31 weeks, had no shortness of breath in my last pregnancy, but have recently been feeling the need to take huge gulps of air, but when I do it doesn't feel satisfying. My ribcage is also achy and chest feels tight.
A few nights ago I was up all night taking huge gulps of air and couldn't sleep, felt quite scary so I went to hospital the next day.
ECG was abnormal with raised heart rate and some other things they didn't explain, but had lung scans and chest X-ray and blood tests which ruled out embolism / heart failure anything majorly scary.
Was discharged and having heart echo test next week, but my breathlessness has returned a bit, and I just wanted to know if it's normal to feel this way in pregnancy or if it's cause for concern.
Any experiences much appreciated!

Did they test your iron?

They did, not anaemic.

@Justjoinedforthis sounds scary.
Few questions - have you have any wheezing or is it just gulping / tightness? Any cough?
Is there a pattern as to when it happens - hour or so after meals? Or is it worse at night or early morning?
Any swelling in ankles?
Any history yourself or in your family of asthma, eczema or hay fever?
Reason I ask is because a third of asthma gets worse in pregnancy and sometimes these people hadn't previously had but symptoms start in pregnancy.
Could this be the case?

Thanks for replying. No pattern, wheezing/coughing, no swelling, no history of anything you mentioned. It's just feeling like I can't take a satisfying amount of air in. Maybe it is mild asthma developing, I'm having a followup appointment so will ask the questions.

Did they check your peak flow? My first thought was anaemia/B12 levels as that's how I felt, but also they are asthma symptoms which I also have. Chest X-ray would show asthma but a peak flow would give an indication.

I was also going to say anaemia - do you know what your levels are? Failing that are you well hydrated?

Thanks for getting back. They said iron was high, and I've been drinking lots.
Not sure what peak flow is? They did inject me with something and scan my lungs.

Is it just the heat? Not to say you’re not suffering from this but is the heat making it worse. ?

I'd love it to be just to heat. Sort of got better yesterday and worse again today so not sure about that, but I'm sure it didn't help. Thank for all the replies, I have some good questions to ask the doctor. Off to bed now (must be 10pm somewhere right!)

It can be caused by polyhydramnios - I had it as part of another complication. When was your last scan?

Peak flow is a devise that you blow into and it measures your lung capacity. Asthmatics use it, mainly at asthma checks and gives an idea of how well controlled or not it may be. Sorry, I didn't explain on my other message. It's non invasive.

I’d be interested in this too. Am 30 weeks and the last couple of days felt very short of breath. I don’t feel baby is up near my ribs? I do have anemia but am on iron tablets so don’t know if it’s cinnected.
I had been wondering about the heat more than anything?

Could it be that baby is quite high up, reducing the amount of space for your lungs?
I felt quite breathless until baby dropped lower but not to the extent that you're describing.

If you're still unsure, keep going back to get checked out until you get the answers.

Hope you feel better soon x